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Posted: 8/24/2001 4:17:32 PM EDT
I know it only means something to me, but I still am happy about this. After weeks of studing I finally took and passed the hardware portion of the Microsoft A+ certification. I scored a 757 out of 900 possible. In two weeks I will take my software test.
I know these test aren't the same as having real world experience, but they will help in landing an interview at least. Anyway--Drinks and ammo for everyone!!([size=1]Disclaimer-Everyone that lives in my household[/size=1] sgtar15 |
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Great!!! Sounds like your hard work has started to pay off. Perhaps you can work for MS and devise error codes that will confound Third World Nations. Seriously, you have something to be Proud of. May you Live Long and Prosper.
[beer] |
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Congrats dude but ummm a+ isn't a microsoft cert [:)] I did mine last year after IBM forced it on us. I know its an industry required cert. But how in the hell can you possibly get a lifetime certification in PC hardware repair with out yearly recert?
Congrats again your part way to a great career. Send me your resume when you pass both. IBM NEEDS TECHS!!!!! mike |
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Quoted: So that explains where you have been lately, congrats! View Quote Yes, it does. I am 36 and don't learn nearly as fast as I used to. My goal is to get my MCSE and study other networking fields. Hell I got the time since my back still isn't fully healed. Beer-Slayer, I'll remember that, thanks. sgtar15 |
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Quoted: Quoted: So that explains where you have been lately, congrats! View Quote Yes, it does. I am 36 and don't learn nearly as fast as I used to. My goal is to get my MCSE and study other networking fields. Hell I got the time since my back still isn't fully healed. Beer-Slayer, I'll remember that, thanks. sgtar15 View Quote Sgtar15 If you want the big bucks steer your studies towards unix/aix/linux. Microsoft is a good cert but the Unix/networking arena pays the big bucks. We are getting to a point where the market is over populated with MS cert techs/admins. you might also consider cisco training if the budget allows for it. mike |
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oh yea,
don't sweat the software test. it's EASY. study up on the basic dos commands and get comfortable with the windows menu system. I had VERY few in depth questions on the software portion of my test. mike |
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Thanks for the info Beer-Slayer. I was thinking about Unix/Linux and Cisco. Workers comp is paying for the schooling which does teach these coarses. Personnal I was thinking about being a teachers aide after I graduate just so I can stick around to play with all of the schools equipement.
sgtar15 |
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Forget about the linux. Get a free UNIX-like OS here: [URL]http://www.FreeBSD.org[/URL]
It's not AIX, but it's *free* and it is basically UNIX although they can't say so. When you buy AIX, you will notice some minor differences, but FreeBSD's not a fourth dimension like linux. You will feel right at home except for some command name differences and a slightly different directory structure. If you ever go to work for The Beer Slayer you will be so sorry you ever wasted your time on linux. It has nothing to do with UNIX. Linus Torvalds invented linux because he wanted his own operating system. He gave the source to some buds and the rest is history. If you are interested, I will give you a SecureShell account on my FreeBSD box and you can poke around for a little while to get your feet wet. |
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Quoted: Forget about the linux. Get a free UNIX-like OS here: [URL]http://www.FreeBSD.org[/URL] It's not AIX, but it's *free* and it is basically UNIX although they can't say so. When you buy AIX, you will notice some minor differences, but FreeBSD's not a fourth dimension like linux. You will feel right at home except for some command name differences and a slightly different directory structure. If you ever go to work for The Beer Slayer you will be so sorry you ever wasted your time on linux. It has nothing to do with UNIX. Linus Torvalds invented linux because he wanted his own operating system. He gave the source to some buds and the rest is history. If you are interested, I will give you a SecureShell account on my FreeBSD box and you can poke around for a little while to get your feet wet. View Quote Actually i mentioned linux because it is GAINING big time in the pc server arena. we are offering linux as a free alternative to MS operating systems. I have MANY linux based netfinity systems here that i service. Unix/aix is the way to go if you want to make a decent income. MS will get you in the door. Unix wil get you paid. mike |
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AIX isn't going to pay your bills for much longer, and if you think that is, I'd strongly recommend you talk to IBM about their future plans for that OS.
Unix is definantely a way to go if you want to learn a lot and make good money on the way. Specialization is for insects, though...don't get too focused on one particular branch. |
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No doubt that it's coming on strong...it just worries me that so many sheeple are flocking to linux like it's the only "alternative OS" there ever was. Certain people pick linux just because they're not aware of anything else other than linux and winbloze. I'll admit that I was a RH luser for about a month, until I realized what a sham it is/was.
Most people have forgetten about where all of "this" started, and what it started with. UNIX baby, 'nuff said. You know the deal Beer Slayer, you said it yourself, "UNIX is where the money's at, baby." [:D] PS- It should be noted that right now I'm just "pulling cable" for a telecom company, but slowly working for HP-UX and AIX certs/experience. PPS- If you use linux, more power to you. At least it's not a Microsoft product, yet. [>:/] |
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Uhh, Dude...A+ is Comptia and not Microsoft. It will look better at your interview if you remember this.
You will get a package in the mail from Comptia in a couple of weeks. At least you will after you pass the second exam. IMO, the second exam was harder. I passed both of mine at the same time over a year ago. But the important thing is you passed! Congrats! Be warned though! The new MCSE 2000 track is much harder than the old NT4 track and much harder than the A+. Study your ass off before your test for this or you will be flushing $100 per pop down a rat hole. I have passed 3 of my four core MCSE2000 exams and will take 70-216 at the end of the first week in September. 216 is the one they use to seperate the Men from the Boys. Once it's passed, its all downhill from there! I failed server once by ONE question! That was a $100 question! I made damn sure that didn't happen the second time! |
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ibm has sunk a shit load of money into redhat and it is becoming a force in the pc server arena. It's also close enough to unix to get most folks started into a real OS.
mike |
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If you want the big bucks steer your studies towards unix/aix/linux. Microsoft is a good cert but the Unix/networking arena pays the big bucks. We are getting to a point where the market is over populated with MS cert techs/admins. you might also consider cisco training if the budget allows for it. mike View Quote This will take care of itself when the NT4 MCSE certs expire and all of the paper MCSE's are MCSE no more. There are very few MCSE2000's right now and if you know Active Directory, you can make big bucks with Microsoft too. Still, it wouldn't hurt to have a RHCE to fall back on! |
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IBM is wasting money, along with HP and others, on Linux. Unfortunantely, I don't see it as a long-term profitable venture for them. But I digress.
Granted, since 2.4 linux is getting there, but still needs help to be a stable enough OS to trust a production level business like a bank too. There are too many people doing too many things at once for linux to maintain a single growth path with stability. I forsee that this will cause a fork or six at some point, hopefully a well managed one, as linux starts to have seperate server and desktop focuses. MS isn't totally stupid, there is a good reason to have a desktop vs. workstation vs. server OS. |
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Originally Posted By Heavy Metal: There are very few MCSE2000's right now and if you know Active Directory, you can make big bucks with Microsoft too. View Quote Can you point out any major company besides MS that's using AD in production? Not a flame, just curious, cuz I haven't seen it yet. |
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Go an look at what AD gurus are making. Search monster.
The fact that MS uses it is is enough to create a demand. MS Active Directory can share information with any other Directory Service that supports LDAP v2 or v3 like Novell Directory Services. |
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MS Active Directory can share information with any other Directory Service that supports LDAP v2 or v3 like Novell Directory Services. View Quote You mean it can suck info from these, but sharing back is not its strong point. |
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Sgtar15
just stick with us we have your carreer all planned out for you [beer] Congrats again welcome to the bleeding edge on the techno curve. mike |
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Congrats on the test!!
I am on my corporate W2K roll-out team. AD is a bear to implement in a large multi-domain NT4 environment. We have at least a year before we will even be close to full AD implementation - if ever. |
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More info on LDAP.
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1777.txt I was taught that it EXCHANGES information I.E. back n' forth. I have never implemented 2000 Server on anything but a Native 2000 environment with all 2000 clients (No NetBEUI, No WINS! TCP/IP and DNS all the way baby! Yey!) I have NO Novell experience beyond refusing Manditory Profiles on my 98 machine at my (non IT) day job and spoofing their attempts to track my internet usage. Better keep my mouth shut as I am interviewing with my orgs IT dept. soon! I am tweaking the DC this weekend (I gotta get a life!) I moonlight as a Network Admin for a Engineering Consulting firm that has about 15 employees. When I started a year ago, they had 2 Win 98 PC's and an inkjet printer(and 3 employees). At this rate, I will have to quit my day job and become their full time NA soon, unless I find my dream job in NC and get the frell out of WV. I have networked an HP650c Plotter, upgraded the two existing pc's, Built the remaining clients, Built the dual processor Domain Controller and upgraded from a peer to peer workgroup to a bonafide Domain. Not to mention cabled everything as well. They will likely open a satelite office soon so I will get to bust my VPN cherry soon too. Next job is to take an old Packard Hell P133 and make it a print server with Samba for a little dabble with linux. I Recently purchased the O'Reilly Using Samba book. It's good but a little out of date so I will be doing a little reasearch at Samba.org this weekend. |
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Cassidy GT,
Is your namespace contiguous or disjointed? Are you guys a single tree or a whole forest? How many zones total does your corporation have? |
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I think he means that he passed the Microsoft Windows half of CompTIA A+ and next he's going to that the hardware half.
The other half could have been Macintosh vice Microsoft. CNE, MCP x5, A+, Net+ |
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He stated the test he recently took was the hardware portion.
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ah yes, I have taken a A+ college (that's right "A" holes, collEge) course. I am yet to certify, img waiting to work for someone who will pay for the test.
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Congrats! I'm working toward a CCNA myself, but I've got a Series 7 (broker) thing to that I'm in the final stages of studying for.
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Quoted: consider cisco training if the budget allows for it. mike View Quote thats where matt is going. i was SUPPOSED to have cisco 1, 2, and "intro to cisco routers" under my belt by the time i got out of high school, but the administration fucked me out of it. |
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Heavy,
The samba book is useful to read through, many of the options haven't changed significantly, although there are many new ones. Fun stuff. Run Samba on our file server box at work, a sun 420R with 200GB of disk and 4gb of RAM [:D]. Wanna compile something? Wanna compile it again??? |
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Quoted: Sgtar15 just stick with us we have your carreer all planned out for you [beer] Congrats again welcome to the bleeding edge on the techno curve. mike View Quote Boy I'll say!! With you guys here I don't need my wife around anymore telling me what to do!![:)][:)] But seriously, thanks for all the advice. Everyone has given me lots of good info on which way to go. I do have one question, Unix is mostly command line right? The reason I ask is because I studied Basic programming lanuage before and picked that up pretty easily. Hence I feel I have the nessecary mind type to effectively learn Unix. What do you think?? (since you guys are now my career advisers[:)]. sgtar15 |
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And BTW, the test I took was the CompTia 201 Hardware test. The next one is the software 202 test. The two combined make up the A+ cert. And starting 8-31-01, that test changes to the adaptive format.
Yes the tests get harder. But since I am not working right now I can spend 3-5 hours per day studing. sgtar15 PS And after all of this I might even take a speling clas. |
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Sergeant,
Not really all CLI. Here's a low-quality screen shot of my desktop. It's using the window manager called BlackBox. It's very sleek and efficient. [IMG]www.nepamedia.com/images/screenshot.jpg[/IMG] Please let me know if all you get is the dreaded red x. [:D] PS- Sorry it's so big, I can shrink it if you don't want to download the large file. |
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glock20, cool. So more like CLI and DOS commands---Right??
Sgtar15 PS My head is starting to hurt again[:(] |
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OK,
CLI means command line interface. The pic I posted of my system is of my GUE (Graphical User Environment) or GUI (Graphgical User Interface.) The little window called xterm in the LL is what your whole screen would look like without a GUI. It's called the console, or console mode. |
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Thanks for the info. I will get it eventually, it's just going to take some time reading and studing. The more I learn, the less I know. LOL!!
sgtar15 |
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GUI=(pronounced)Gooey!
SgtAR, think of Windows 3.1 on top of dos. Thats kind of the cli+gui relationship in linux. |
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Microsoft is going to be the best thing to ever happen to Linux and FreeBSD and all the other free OSes. Windows XP licensing provisions are going to make alot of places drop Windows in the next year or two.
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Congrats! Certification does not necessarily mean a job (I'm a BrainBench certified Linux Network Administrator, and currently unemployed), but it beats the heck out of NOT being certified!
Keep it up, amigo. Semper Fi! Ken Little |
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As has already been stated, A+ is not a MS cert. It is CompTIA along with I NET+ and Network+. It will certainly help you get your foot in the door though. I would reccomand you see if you can't get in somewhere working part time wit a local shop for peanuts to get some hands on time on your resume. I do not know a lot of places who will hire you on the Cert alone.
As for MS certs. I have one exam left ofr my Win2k MCSE. Have had my NT4.0 MCSE since Jan of 98. The 2000 track is certainly more difficult than the old one. Another one to consider is the MCDBA (Microsoft Certified Database Admin). AS far as linux, I really don't think it is going to go anywhere. I have worked for IBM busness partners and I know how they operate. We did a lot of NT / AS400 integration. IBM made crap out of NT forever and really pumped up the 400. The 400 is a good box, but should not be installed in place of a PC server. Eventually IBM saw the light and came out with the IPCS card for the 400 that allowed you to run NT on the 400. Sounds like a surrender to me lol. Anyway. I see IBM dumping all kinds of cash into the Linux thing and trying very hard to create a market for it. I don't think it will fly. Oh, and Netware has been using something like Active Directory for a while. Aviator [img]www.dredgeearthfirst.com/aviator.gif[/img] MCSE, MCP, MCP+I, A+, NETWORK+, I NET+, IBM PSE |
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Oh, and Netware has been using something like Active Directory for a while. View Quote NDS=Novell Directory Services Pray for Heavy Metal for he takes 216 friday. |
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Good luck Heavymetal. I am assuming that you are taking the adaptive test since they just changed over. I am taking the A+ software test on Sept 10 so once again I will be up quite late tonight studing.
Oh well, it will be worth it in the long run. sgtar15 |
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Started the MCSE NT4.0 but only got halfway through it before work got in the way of me finishing it. I did just get my CCNA about a month ago. Think I am about to go ahead and do the CCNP also. cant take to long, did the CCNA in 2 weeks. and yes I was braindead for a few days afterwords.
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Nah, it's not adaptive, just a mfer! The MCSE2000 exams are not interactive although they originally were supposed to be. Every one I have taken to date allows you to go back and change an answer, a true adaptive test will not.
Thanks anyway! Good luck with yours too! |
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